BHUBANESWAR: Senior IAS officer and development commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena was on Sunday appointed as the new chief secretary of Odisha. He will succeed incumbent Suresh Chandra Mahapatra, who is due to retire on February 28 after two successive extensions of six months each.
Additional chief secretary (ACS) Anu Garg will replace Jena as development commissioner and will also be in charge of the Planning and Convergence department. In addition, she will continue to be ACS in the Water Resources department, according to a notification issued by the General Administration department. Both Jena and Garg will take charge of their new assignments on March 1.
Meanwhile, the outgoing chief secretary Mahapatra has been appointed as the chairperson of the Odisha Electricity Regulatory Commission (OERC), according to a notification issued by the Energy department. The post was vacant for more than a year.
Jena, a 1989 IAS officer, will continue as the special relief commissioner (SRC) till the next administrative reshuffle in the state. Jena, who has a MSc degree in geology hails from Dhenkanal district. He has headed several departments including energy, water resources, rural development and information technology in his administrative career.
Born on January 1, 1964, Jena started his career as the sub-collector of Dharmgarh in Kalahandi district in 1991. He also served as the collector of Kendrapara and Cuttack districts. His work as Cuttack collector at the time of super cyclone in 1999 was appreciated by state government as well as the Centre.
Jena has played a key role as the SRC during the critical Covid pandemic. He had led the state’s pandemic response during all the three waves for the last two-and-half years. Besides, as the SRC he also played an important role in the implementation of the state government’s zero casualty principle during cyclones and other natural disasters.
He also headed the revenue-generating bodies of Commercial Tax Commissionerate and State Transport Authority, in early 2000s’. He also served at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), helping the state government in formulating a progressive resettlement and rehabilitation policy. He also served as the chief administrator of the SJTA.
As the new chief secretary, Jena will be crucial in the expeditious implementation of some of the infrastructure and other projects like the Jagannath Temple Heritage Corridor project at Puri, tranformation of other religious places including temples and implementation of irrigation project in different parts of the state.
The new development commissioner Garg also has wide experience in several sectors as the additional chief secretary in Water Resources department, principal secretary in women and child development and several other departments.